New York Markets After Hours

No college grads need apply

Sequestration and other cuts force feds to cut back on entry-level hiring

By

JonnelleMarte

David Lopez, a senior and student body president at Temple University in Philadelphia has been working in politics since he was a 17-year-old interning for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. While working on his political science degree, Lopez, now 21, also racked up internships at the White House and the Democratic National Committee.

But two weeks away from his college graduation, Lopez, whose apartment walls are lined with framed photos of him posing with the likes of Vice President Biden and both Hillary and Bill Clinton, says he keeps hearing the same response from the federal agencies he’s interviewing with: Come back later.

At a time when governments at all levels are trimming staffs, college graduates hoping to land public-sector jobs are facing another hurdle: sequestration. Career counselors and recruiting experts say the federal spending cuts that went into effect March 1 are causing several federal agencies—many of which are having to furlough employees as a result of the cuts—to hold back job offers until they know what their budgets will look like. “They’re kind of in limbo,” says Lily Whiteman, author of “How to Land a Top-Paying Federal Job.”

To be sure, the outlook for new graduates like Lopez isn’t much better in the private sector. While the number of graduates hired this spring is expected to increase by 2% from last year, according to the most recent survey of employers by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, poor job prospects are forcing many degree-holders to settle for low-skill jobs. A survey by staffing firm Adecco found that nearly 60% of hiring managers are not planning to hire any entry level college graduates this year.

But to add to the hurdles for would-be public servants, government hiring overall has been shrinking. The economy added 165,000 jobs in April, but government jobs declined by 11,000 in April from the month before, and public employment is down by 89,000 from a year ago, according to figures released by the Labor Department Friday. The executive branch hired 33,700 people between the ages of 20 and 24 in 2012, down 8% from 2011 and off nearly 40% from the peak reached in 2008, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. “That hiring is now a distant memory,” says Steven Rothberg, president of CollegeRecruiter.com, a job board for students and recent graduates.

The federal government hasn’t completely closed the door to new applicants, but job hunters are seeing fewer opportunities. Lopez, who is applying for staff and legislative assistant positions at various federal agencies, says some departments are saying they plan to make do with one assistant where two used to be the norm. And he says he isn’t seeing as many entry-level job listings now as he did when he started looking at the start of his senior year. “More and more jobs require one or two years of experience,” he says.

The federal budget cuts are also expected to trickle down to state and local governments, which are already strapped for cash and have seen a sharp drop in the funding they get through federal programs. Those governments may have to leave positions unfilled or delay offers that would normally be made around now, including those for teachers, says William Wright-Swadel, executive director of the career center at Duke University. Research jobs at institutes that rely on federal funding may also be affected, he says. The National Science Foundation, for instance, noted in February that the budget cuts would reduce the number of new research grants awarded in 2013. “What’s going on in government is a little bit disquieting in terms of the number of jobs that may be lost in areas like education,” says Wright-Swadel.

Top 5 highest-paid college majors

Engineering grads of 2013 earn far higher salaries on average than the typical new college graduate. Lauren Weber reports. Photo: Getty Images

The overall budget climate could crimp the administration’s efforts to bring more young talent into government jobs. In an executive order from 2010, President Obama acknowledged that the federal government has a “competitive disadvantage” compared with private sector employers when it comes to hiring entry-level workers, because many jobs are tilted toward candidates with previous experience. Last summer, the federal government addressed the issue by launching a program meant to improve the hiring of students and recent graduates through internships and fellowships. The program targets not just twentysomethings but people with masters, doctorates and medical degrees as well. A spokesman for the Office of Personnel Management says it’s too soon to see the impact of the program but that there might be a change this year.

The cuts aren’t impacting all departments equally, with some security and law-enforcement oriented agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency still making offers, says Trudy Steinfeld, director of the career services center at New York University. College grads hoping to work for Uncle Sam should still apply for the positions they’re interested in so that they can be “at the front of the line” when agencies are able to start hiring again, says Steinfeld. Many federal positions also require candidates go through a clearance process, which could take several months.

Lopez says he hopes to get some experience working for a federal agency before going to law school. His end goal: to be a U.S. senator. Though he has already been urged by some family friends to run for mayor of his hometown, Hazelton, Pa., his student loans make financing a campaign tough right now. Lopez is thinking of possibly working for a gubernatorial or congressional race in Pennsylvania while he waits for another opportunity to open up, instead of sticking to his initial plan to get a government job straight out of school. And on a national scale, if Hillary Clinton were to declare a 2016 presidential run? “I would put my life plan on hold and jump on board,” he says.

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